Improvement in safes



1 109. SFES, BNK PROTECTQN AND RELATED DEVICES.

Patented 060.12, 1871.

rEN'r QFFICE.

JOHN FARREL, on NEW roux, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN SAFES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,710, dated December12, 1871.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN FARREL, of the city, county, and Sta-te of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire- IroofSafes; and the following is a specification thereof.

The said invention relates in part to the general construction offire-proof safes, with a view to enhanced lightness, strength, andeconomy of production, protection of the contents, such as books andpapers, and convenience of access to the interior.

Referring to the drawing hereto annexed, Figure l is a vertical section,showing the safe as with the back removed. Fig. 2 is a vertical section,representing a side removed. Fig. 3 is a transverse horizontal section,showing the a-rrangement of the book-case front.

The paramount object of the outer shell or casing of a fire-proof safeis to provide a receptacle for the fire-proof lilling thereofsufficiently strong to hold such tillin g securely and preserve the safeintact through the exigencies of an accidental lire. My improvementproposes to answer these requirements in a shell or frame combininglightness with increased strength and diminished cost.

To enable others skilled in the art to comprehend my invention, I willproceed to describe the same.

In the drawing, A represents the outer shell (of sheet metal or metalplate) of the body of the safe.

This shell, as found in other safes, is commonly made up of four or moreseparate sheets or plates, having iiat strips of metal riveted on theoutside thereof. My system of construction is quite different. Insteadof using several separate plates I form four of the sides from a singlesheet, as illustrated in Fig. l, but one plate (that for the back) beingthen required to complete the whole, the door excepted; thus producing acasing or or shell combining lightness with increased strength, and onecapa-ble of maintaining its shape and entirety when the metal is heatedand pliable, while other safes will warp open and allow the lire-proofcomposition to escape, jeopardizing the contents of the safe.

To further insure the unity of structure and form I introduce lightangle-bars B of steel or iron, and secure them to the inside of theshell, as illustrated in the drawing. These, while imparting greaterstiffness than the ordinary flat bars applied to the outside, alsoenhance economy in manufacture, as the interior bars are left in therough, being concealed by the casing or shell; whereas the exterior barsrequire an amount of finishing that 'involves considerable time andlabor.

It will therefore be apparent that the casing made on my improved planis 0f cheaper construction, requiring less than the ordinary number ofparts and no finish 5 that it will be stronger, though made of lightermetal; and that, owing to the unity of its structure, the safe will,without fracture or opening of seams, successfully endure severe tests.

D represents the book-case or inner chamber for containing the books,papers, or other valuables. It is made of wood in order to enhance theprotection of the papers from injury, to which they would be exposed ifit, like the casing or shell, were ot' metal.

y In case ofthe fall of the safe during a re, as through a burningbuilding, a frequent occurrence, the safe often falls and remains on itsface, throwing the contents against the door, which, being of metal, andmore or less heated, is liable to discolor the books and papers,sometimes rendering the latter illegible. rIhe bookcase front, or usualwooden door of the bookcase, prevents this; but when hinged to one sideof the case D in the way commonly practiced, as indicated by the dottedlines at c in Fig. 3, it interferes with the free access to theinterior, and for that and incidental reasons it is often omitted. lobviate all such objections by attaching said book-case front to thesafedoor E, as represented in .the drawing. This arrangement removes itquite out of the way when the sat'e door is open, and places it in itsrequired position when the door E is closed, thus dispensing with thenecessity of opening and closing an extra door and the expense of hingesand lock, and their repairs, while the non-liability of the front toheat protects the papers which a book-oase of Wood, having its Woodendoor affixed. to the door of the safe, al1 substantially as spooied.

may oli-ance to lie against the safe-door from discoloration and injury.

I claim;-

The construction of the safe, consisting of the shell7 having its foursides formed of the same Witnesses: sheet of met-a1, supported andbraced Within by SETE H. NOYES, angle inside sustaining barslncombination with FRANK O. HERRING. (128) JOHN FARREL.

